Tag Archives: HDR

Utica Marsh Take Two

Posted by Mike on

I was hoping to make a return trip to the Utica Marsh on Sunday morning but the weather forecast had me thinking I was going to encounter overcast skies. I decided to run down tonight and see what I could capture during the sunset. The sky cooperated by rolling in a few clouds and the sun played its part well.

Framed Marsh
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/20s, 35mm, f/16, ISO 100


Orange over Marsh
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/40s, 21mm, f/11, ISO 100

There was little to no wind so I tried my hand at a few bracketed sets so I could play with Photomatix. I have had some hit and miss sets lately while trying to create a nice HDR image. The first two images in this post a straight up processing with Lightroom and a quick trip into Topaz Labs Adjust. This image is a three exposure bracket with some finish processing in Lightroom.

Marsh Sunset Burst
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/100, 1/25, 1/6s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Pixley Falls

Posted by Mike on

We attempted to explore Pixley Falls State Park on Saturday but we were unable to beat the rain to the park. My daughter and I drove up hoping the rain would hold off. We entered the park just as the rain began. We waited for about 30 minutes but there didn’t appear to be a break coming, so we drove back home.

Pixley Falls is about 25 minutes from my house up Route 46 between Rome and Boonville, NY. There are numerous trails for exploring and quite a few secondary streams producing plenty of photographic opportunities. Obviously ,the main attraction is the big waterfall.

Pixley Falls Front
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/40, 1/10, 1/2.5s bracket), 24mm, f22, ISO 100

Pixley Falls Side
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/40, 1/10, 1/2.5s bracket), 17mm, f22, ISO 100

After some exploring we found this small stream which had a lot of potential. If it hadn’t just rained we would have been able to go farther upstream which had even more dramatic areas with small waterfalls. But, the rain had softened the ground and made navigating off-trail a little slippery. That will definitely be for another day.

Pixley Falls Tributary
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/8, 1/2, 2s bracket), 24mm, f22, ISO 100

I didn’t have a chance to investigate the area prior to driving up so I guessed at 4pm as the optimal time to photograph the waterfall. I knew from a visit last fall that the waterfall would be deep within the trees and very early or late day sun would be out of the question. As you can see from these pictures, there are quite a lot of shadows from the trees even at 4pm. My next visit this summer will be around 10am to see if I can get the sun lighting the waterfall better.

Chittenango Falls

Posted by Mike on

My daughter spent a few days with her grandma and tonight after work I had to drive to Cortland, NY to pick her up. On the way back I asked if she was in a hurry to get home and luckily she wasn’t. We took a quick detour to Chittenango Falls State Park between Cazenovia and Chittenango on Route 13. As I was driving there the sunset was producing some amazing light, unfortunately, it didn’t hold until we arrived. Still, not too bad of conditions to capture a few pictures before we continued home.

Chittenango Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/10, 0.4, 1.6s bracket), 32mm, f22, ISO 200

Industrial

Posted by Mike on

This morning I set out with a purpose.  I have been wanting to capture some of the industrial and abandoned structures I pass almost every day.  Rather than go out looking for the beautiful sunrise or capture some floral macros I drove around to all the sites on my list trying to catch them in the early morning light.

Awake! Rock beast
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1, 4, 15s bracket), 26mm, f16, ISO 400

From a forgotten time
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/125, 1/30, 1/8s bracket), 21mm, f16, ISO 400

Nature takes back
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/80, 1/20, 1/5s bracket), 32mm, f22, ISO 200

The business end
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/40, 1/10, 1/3s bracket), 58mm, f22, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam

Posted by Mike on

I finally made the time to finish processing my pictures from the two days of exploration at the Delta Lake Dam.  I posted two images previously but wanted to put together a single post with all the pictures I captured.  I had a great time searching around the foot of the dam and I really hope we get some rain so the water will flow over the top of the spillway.  I will definitely be heading back to the dam when that occurs.

The construction of the dam began in 1908 and was eventually completed in 1912.  New York State constructed the dam as a water reservoir for the expanded barge canal system being built to replace the original Erie Canal.  Unfortunately for the village of Delta, NY, the construction of the dam required the relocation of the residents and the eventual flooding of the village.  You can see pictures and more info about Delta, NY at http://www.nlford.com/history/delta/.

Delta Lake Dam – Overview
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/80s, 17mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Spillway
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/160s, 50mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Old Bridge
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/60s, 17mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Rock Patterns
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/80s, 17mm, f7.1, ISO 200

Delta Lake Reservoir Dam
View from the bridge
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/30s, 17mm, f5.6, ISO 100

The next two images I created using a 3 bracketed set for each image. I used Photomatix Pro to tone map the three images and then finished processing the result in Lightroom 4. I like the ability of the HDR (High Dynamic Range) technique to ‘bring out’ more of the image. I try not to ‘over do’ the processing so the image (especially landscapes) still looks somewhat natural.

Delta Lake Dam – Spillway
3 bracket exposure (-2 / 0 /+2 EV) HDR
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/13s. 17mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Spillway
3 bracket exposure (-2 / 0 /+2 EV) HDR
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/5s. 19mm, f16, ISO 200

I’m trying to avoid too many trips back to this area until there is some change.  Like I mentioned above, if the water starts flowing over the spillway, I’ll be there.  When the autumn brings some nice color to the leaves, I’ll be back.  It is a little sad to me that this great area is roughly 10 minutes from my house but I have visited it more in the past week then I had in the past 20+ years of living in Central NY.  I dream of taking trips to those wonderful areas of the US that I see pictures of everyday online, but then I find areas so close to home that I know I need to discover in my own back yard too!

If anyone has suggestions for photographic trips here in Central NY, leave a comment.  I’m always looking for new areas to explore and things to photograph.